Victims lose more money in debit-card scam

People caught in a debit-card scam say they are still seeing money vanish from their bank accounts.

All the debit-card machines that were tampered with have already been replaced but several fraud victims have discovered money is still being skimmed from their accounts.

The Codiac RCMP have confirmed a third business was targeted as a part of a debit machine scam that has hit in the greater Moncton area.

Some Moncton residents, who were caught up in the debit card fraud, say the experience is changing the way they handle their bank cards.

Julie Thebeau said she makes a point of being cautious about how she handles her debit card.

So she said she was shocked when she noticed three debit transactions totalling about $1,000 were stripped from her bank account.

"I thought: This doesn't happen to me, this happens to everybody else. And so I was quite surprised that it actually happened to me," she said.

Kelly Sweet said she’s been scammed twice. The lack of information about the fraud cases is causing her to be very cautious with her money.

"Because I can't get confirmation from the bank or the police that they know what's going on or where the stores are that are affected … I've decided that the only thing that I have to use is cash," she said.

The RCMP are not releasing the names of the three businesses hit.

RCMP say about 60 reports have been filed with them about debit card problems.

Victims should notify RCMP

Anyone who believes they have been caught up in the debit-card fraud are being advised to contact the police and their banks.

Rachel Jolicoeur, the manager of fraud programs with Interac, said safeguards are in place, but consumers need to keep a sharp eye on their transaction records.

"It's very important to notify your financial institution if at any point you notice that there's something unusual on the statement," Jolicoeur said.

"If there's purchases on the statement that were not approved by you or in some events you might notice that you did make a purchase, however it did not show up on your statement days later. That's very important too, and you want to notify your bank about that."

But the police say there could be many more because some people might just report cases to their banks.

Jolicoeur said people should report any suspicious transactions to their financial institutions as soon as possible to get improper transactions reimbursed.

"Because card holders are being reimbursed, the bank becomes the victim, so it's up to the bank to report it to the police," she said.